Author:
Publication: Sify News
Date: February 9, 2004
URL: http://sify.com/news_info/news/offbeat/fullstory.php?id=13384481
Saris, the bedrock of Indian women's
attire, will soon come with medicinal value as traditional crafters inject
refreshing herbs into the fabric.
The handloom trade in Thumbod village
in Kerala is reviving the ancient art of weaving herbs, leaves, fruits
and roots into sari fabric instead of chemical dyes, the Press Trust of
India reported Monday.
The technique, once used to dress
royalty, comes from ayurveda, India's traditional herbal medicine.
Ayurvedic herbs, which crafters
say will stay in each sari for life, are reputed to fight bacteria to check
disease and promote health.
"This is an ethnic technology, which
has tremendous medicinal as well as commercial scope," said Ravi, the advisor
to Kerala Chief Minister A.K. Antony on sustainable development.
Ravi, who uses only one name, said
ayurvedic fabrics could eventually be used for other garments and bedspreads
and the state could encourage farmers to grow herbs for the industry.
Thumbod is famous for its handlooms,
with villagers once making ayurvedic clothing to dress the royal families
of Travancore and Madurai in southern India.
But the craft was eclipsed after
India's independence in 1947 as royalty was abolished and factory-made
synthetic textiles made an onslaught.
